Interpublic, Philip Morris, Walt Disney

MichaelBaron

Advancers

Capital Automotive
CARS, -1.90%
jumped more than 4 percent after Standard & Poor's said late Friday that it would add the automotive dealership real estate investment trust's stock to its S&P 600 SmallCap Index. The stock would be replacing HNC Software, which is being acquired by Fair Isaac
FIC, -0.72%
in a deal closed Monday.

Concord EFS
CEFT
added more than 3 percent after the company said that its board has approved the buyback of up to $250 million worth of its common stock. "We believe that current general market conditions and the present market valuation of our stock makes our stock an attractive investment for Concord," said Dan Palmer, chairman and CEO of the Memphis, Tenn.-based provider of electronic transaction processing services.

First Horizon Pharmaceutical
FHRX
advanced more than 22 percent in afternoon action. The Alpharetta, Ga., specialty drug firm is scheduled to report its financial results for the second quarter after the closing bell. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call are looking for a profit of a penny per share, on average.

Gilead Sciences
GILD, -1.38%
rose more than 7 percent after the company said that the Food and Drug Administration will post its background package related to Gilead's new drug application for adefovir dipivoxil for the treatment of hepatitis B on its Web site Monday. The package will include data summaries for the antiviral drugs committee meeting on the application. The meeting is scheduled to take place Tuesday.

Lumenis
LUME
gained more than 11 percent in morning action. The Israeli maker of laser and pulsed light devices is scheduled to report its second-quarter results after the closing bell. Thomson Financial/First Call doesn't publish a consensus estimate of the company's results. Lumenis, whose products are used in a variety of aesthetic, ophthalmic, surgical and dental applications, posted earnings of 30 cents a share in the same period a year earlier.

NDS Group
NNDS
shares leapt more than 8 percent after the satellite TV operator controlled by News Corp.
NWS, +0.00%
posted fourth-quarter operating profit before items, goodwill and amortization grew 14 percent to $21 million. The company reduced operating expenses and grew subscribers by 1.5 million. NDS said it faced a "difficult environment for the pay-TV industry around the world" but said it made progress on its strategic plans.

Philip Morris
MO, -1.76%
rose more than 5 percent after the company revealed a California Supreme Court ruling which the company believes will provide grounds to overturn three recent verdicts against it that are currently being appealed. The court ruled that a recent law that repealed the limitation on lawsuits did not apply to injuries allegedly caused by smoking between 1988 and 1998.

Spanish Broadcasting System
SBSA, +0.17%
climbed more than 17 percent after the company reported second quarter revenue that exceeded expectations and free cash flow that rose over year earlier levels.

U.S. Industries
USI, -4.81%
rose more than 16 percent after the company inked an agreement for the sale of its Siteco European lighting division to funds advised by JPMorgan Partners, a unit of JPMorgan Chase [s: jpm], for EUR 120 million in cash. U.S. Industries plans to use proceeds as amortization under its restructured credit facilities

Decliners

Anthem
ATH, -1.51%
lost more than 6 percent after the company said it sees 2002 earnings per share growth of "at least 15 percent" as its Trigon acquisition is expected to reduce earnings per share by 5 cents in 2002 and to be neutral to the 2003 earnings per share results. Anthem said second-quarter earnings rose 47 percent to $106.2 million, or $1.01 a share. The results were 1 cent better than the consensus estimate, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

BEA Systems
BEAS
dropped more than 6 percent after RBC Capital Markets analyst Sarah Mattson trimmed her fiscal 2003 earnings and revenue estimates for the e-commerce software company, citing "strained" new application development, a "tough" European market and "fierce" competition. She noted, however, that given the current backlog and installed base buying, the company appears to have reached "conservative" targets for the quarter ending July. Mattson cut her price target to $11 from $16, but said she believed downside risk was "minimal." The stock hit a low of $4.72 earlier in the session, the lowest level seen since May 1999.

Cablevision
CVC, +0.00%
slid more than 11 percent after the company said it's scrapping its tracking stock, Rainbow Media Group
RMG, -0.65%
for shares of its stock as of Aug. 20. Each share of Rainbow Media Group common stock will be exchanged for 1.19093 shares of Cablevision stock. Fractional shares will be paid in cash. Cablevision said it believes that the exchange will be a tax-free stock exchange for U.S. federal income tax purposes, except for the cash from fractional shares.

Collins & Aikman
CKC
plunged more than 51 percent after the Troy, Mich., maker of automotive products and cockpit modules posted second-quarter earnings before items of $6.5 million, or 9 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call were looking for earnings of 26 cents a share, on average. Including a charge of $36.3 million related to a repurchase of series A preferred stock and a gain of $9.5 million from discontinued operations, the company lost $20.3 million, or 29 cents a share, in the latest three months. Looking ahead, Collins & Aikman forecast earnings of $15 million to $20 million, or 20 to 26 cents a share, on sales of $3.85 billion to $3.95 billion for the full year. Wall Street's current consensus estimate is for a profit of 74 cents a share.

Cox Communications
COX, +6.02%
dropped more than 15 percent after the company received a downgrade from CS First Boston to 'hold' from 'strong buy,' telling clients "on concerns that high SG&A growth will continue to make margin expansion difficult... In essence, the cost of churn is hitting the P&L." Analyst Lara Warner estimates that in the second quarter churn cost $12 million for Cox. "We believe the high SG&A growth is being driven by product installation costs that in the past have been capitalized, but going forward must be expensed if it is not the first visit to that address." Warner cut the 12-month price target to $29 on the stock.

ESS Technology
ESST
fell more than 13 percent after an article published in financial news weekly Barron's over the weekend raised concerns about competitive pressure the company is facing in the DVD chip market. The article, which also notes recent declines in gross margins at ESS, quotes an analyst with Needham & Co. as saying that competitor Zoran
ZRAN
may be gaining market share. Zoran shares lost almost 5 percent.

Intercept
ICPT, -1.21%
slid more than 18 percent in midday action. Before the opening bell, the Atlanta provider of financial technology products and services posted a second-quarter profit before items of $5.1 million, or 27 cents a share, in line with the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call. Revenue jumped 68 percent to $55.1 million in the latest three months from $32.7 million in the same period a year earlier.

Interpublic Group of Cos.
IPG, -1.95%
lost more than 18 percent after the company delayed the release of its second-quarter results to accommodate the audit committee of its board of directors. It will now report after the closing bell on Aug. 13. In addition, CIBC started coverage of shares of the New York-based advertising firm with a "hold" rating, while tabbing competitor Omnicom
OMC, -1.28%
and Web ad firm DoubleClick
DCLK
with "buy" ratings. Interpublic said that the committee delayed its regular meeting in order to complete its review of the financials prior to management certification of the statements. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call are looking for a profit of 39 cents a share in the period.

Mirant
MIR, +0.00%
dipped more than 13 percent after the company said that it's responding to an informal inquiry from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said the inquiry is related to its disclosure of three accounting issues discovered during an internal review of its 2001 financial statements. Mirant said that the SEC has also requested additional information about shareholder litigation, any of its round-trip trades, and the investigation by the Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission into its energy-trading practices in the western U.S.

PG&E Corp.
PCG, -0.83%
lost more than 4 percent after the company said that it has received a waiver through August 16 from a group of its lenders of the requirement that it maintain an investment grade credit rating by either Standard & Poor's or Moody's Investor Service. The waiver comes after the company's PG&E National Energy Group and its operating units received a credit rating downgrade from Moody's. "We are now working with these lenders to discuss long-term modifications to this lending agreement, as our team has done successfully in the past," the company said. "We look forward to reaching an agreement soon."

PolyMedica
PLMD
sank more than 17 percent after the company said that co-founder Steven Lee plans to resign as chief executive officer, effective immediately. Lee will continue to serve as chairman through Dec. 31. Samuel Shanaman, who has served as a director since November 2001, was named to a new lead director position, and he will perform the CEO functions on an interim basis.

RF Micro Devices
RFMD
dropped more than 6 percent after the Greensboro, N.C., provider of radio frequency integrated circuits named Albert Paladino chairman. Paladino has served as an outside director with RF Micro since 1992. Paladino replaces Bill Pratt in the chairman role. Pratt, RF's co-founder and chief technology officer, will remain on the board.

Shaw Group
SGR, -1.10%
lost more than 24 percent after the company said that it has received notification that NRG Energy will be unable to make the next scheduled payment on the LSP-Pike Energy LLC project due to liquidity issues. Shaw units Stone & Webster and Shaw Constructors are working on the project. After talks with NRG about the eventuality of it making this payment, and the prospects for future work on the project, Shaw agreed to acquire the Pike assets for forgiveness of debt, and $43 million. However, Shaw warned that if it and NRG are unable to complete the deal, there could be a material adverse impact on its ability to meet earnings expectations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002, and fiscal 2003.

Walt Disney
DIS, -0.80%
dropped more than 8 percent after Moody's Investors Service placed the entertainment company's long-term rating on review for possible downgrade due to "ongoing concerns about the outlook for the company's theme park operations, uncertainty about viewer and advertiser share momentum at its ABC networks, and the company's high debt burden versus operating and free cash flow."

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